


The Origins of a Killer

by coockie8



Category: Storm Hawks
Genre: Child Abuse, Devotion, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, M/M, Murder, Orphans, Pedophilia, Physical Abuse, Pre-Canon, Stockholm Syndrome, The original Storm Hawks, Torture, Triggers, possible trigger warnings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-22
Updated: 2018-05-22
Packaged: 2019-05-10 04:23:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14729885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coockie8/pseuds/coockie8
Summary: The Rise and Fall of Dark Ace's life as a Storm Hawk.





	The Origins of a Killer

**Author's Note:**

> I have been juggling with the idea of whether or not to actually right out this massive Headcanon for Dark Ace's origin story, and I finally decided to do it. Since this story will take place vaguely over the span of four years, this will probably be a long fic, since a lot of stuff is crammed into those four years. There's also a lot of really heavy, dark themes in this fic. You have been warned. Anyway, hope you like it.

“Gold?”

Aaron, more commonly known as ‘Lightning Strike’, stopped in his tracks and looked down at the tiny body that had uttered that gentle squeak. Maroon eyes peered up at him through dirty, shaggy, black bangs; two tiny hands cupped together; reaching towards him. He swallowed thickly as he stared into those pleading eyes. The child, Aaron honestly couldn’t tell if they were a little girl or a little boy, had long, shaggy black hair, seemed to have creamy coloured skin under all the dirt and grime, was dressed in what appeared to be a potato sack with holes for their arms and head torn into it, had bandages on their hands and feet, and looked very much underweight. Of course, most people on this Terra were underweight, having been thoroughly ravaged by Cyclonia, but this poor child looked like they got a reasonable meal in them maybe once a week.

“Lightning Strike, let’s go,” Krysta, the squadron’s crystal mage, stated; walking up next to her Sky Knight.

She stopped when she noticed what had caught Aaron’s attention

“Oh,” Was all she managed.

Aaron pursed his lips together before looking around the Terra; half hoping to see the child’s parents, even though he was almost certain they had none. Orphans weren’t unusual these days. He sighed before placing a gold coin in the child’s tiny hands. It wouldn’t get them much; inflation was a real problem on this Terra, since they didn’t have much, what they did have costed a fortune. Some said for the price of a loaf of bread here, you could buy a house on Terra Atmosia. The child let a tiny smile slip before scurrying off with what little Aaron had offered. He sighed heavily and rubbed the back of his head before heading off with Krysta.

 

The sun had long since gone down by the time the Storm Hawks had completed their mission on the Terra, and had begun to head back to the Condor. Once again, Aaron was halted by that same tiny voice

“Food?”

Aaron looked down at those tiny hands and felt his heart tug, because of how poorly the Terra was doing, there were very few children. Most people either refused to have, or those who did have sent their children to live with relatives elsewhere. Aaron sighed softly and knelt down in an attempt to be at eye-level with the child, and it suddenly became clear why this child hadn’t been sent away. Those eyes; the colour, the shape. Aaron had only seen eyes like that once, on a woman from a Terra far East, so far, in fact, that’s where it got its name; Eastaria. Much like Terra Wallop, the inhabitants of Eastaria did not take kindly to visitors, and they rarely left their Terra. But anyone who had ever seen an Eastarian always described them the same way ‘skin fair as the harvest moon, hair like raven’s feathers, almond eyes like bloodied mahogany’. This child fit the description to a T.

People didn’t like Eastaria because their total self-reliance meant they were very much unaffected by the war, which only meant Eastaria’s wariness of the outside world was enforced by how poorly they were treated when they did leave. It explained why this child was so heavily neglected. It definitely made Aaron wonder how and why this child was here in the first place? Cross raced maybe? Aaron shook his head; he’d have time to worry about that later

“Hello,” He greeted softly, so as to not spook the tiny tot.

They quickly hid their hands behind their back and lowered their gaze

“You,” They mumbled.

Aaron smiled

“So you remember me, huh? I’m honored,” He chuckled.

Caesar, the sharp shooter, tapped Aaron’s shoulder

“C’mon, we don’t have time for this,” He urged.

Aaron shooed him away and turned his attention back to the child

“Are you hungry?” He asked softly.

The little one glanced up at Aaron through his bangs and tentatively nodded. Aaron smiled

“Well, if you want, you can come with me and I’ll get you something to eat,” He offered.

“Okay,” The child mumbled.

Aaron picked them up and started heading back to the ship. Caesar smacked him on the arm

“What are you doing!? You can’t just pick up stray children!” He scolded.

Aaron rolled his eyes

“We’re not going to keep them, we’ll just get them something to eat, and then drop them off at the nearest decent orphanage,” He assured.

 

Once back on the Condor, Aaron brought the child into the kitchen and sat them down on the counter before turning around and rummaging through the fridge

“So, can you tell me your name?” He asked as he returned with the stuff to make a sandwich.

“Ace,” The boy, they were apparently a boy, muttered.

Aaron smiled

“Well, it’s nice to meet you Ace; I’m Lightning Strike,” He introduced.

Ace blew a lock of hair out of his face

“Lightning?” He mumbled; frowning slightly.

Aaron chuckled as he handed the sandwich to him

“Or Aaron, if you’d prefer.”

Ace hesitantly took the sandwich and started to eat; keeping a wary eye on Aaron. The Sky Knight smiled and reached forward; gently brushing Ace’s bangs out of his face

“You can also take a bath if you’d like,” He offered.

Ace was finished eating in record time, Aaron wasn’t sure the boy had even tasted the sandwich

“Sure,” He mumbled; sliding down off the counter.

Aaron hummed softly and lead the child to the bathroom; locking the door behind them before getting to filling the tub. Aaron cocked his head towards the gentle rustling before turning to look at Ace, who had stripped. Aaron bit his lip and cringed now that he could see exactly how thin the boy was

“Well… Come here,” He breathed.

Ace approached slowly; uneasily letting Aaron lift him into the tub. Aaron helped him clean himself

“So, how old are you?” He asked.

Ace glanced up at Aaron through his, now sopping wet, bangs

“Ten,” he mumbled.

Aaron raised an eyebrow; the kid definitely didn’t _look_ ten, perhaps the malnourishment had stunted his growth a bit.

Once Ace was clean, Aaron put him in one of his shirts, way too big, but it covered everything, and was clean, so it would have to do. Now, Aaron had him on the bridge, with the rest of the Squadron. They consisted, in total, of Krysta; the Crystal Mage, Argus; the Strongman, Caesar; the Sharpshooter, Salvador; the Carrier Pilot, and Aaron ‘Lightning Strike’; the Sky Knight. Krysta was sitting with Ace as he gulped down some juice, the rest of the team was standing a little ways away, talking about what to do with Ace

“I know you have his best interest at heart, Lightning Strike, but the majority of orphanages are packed as it is; no one is going to take him. At this point, the best we can do is just dump him off on a better Terra,” Caesar grumbled.

Argus sighed

“Caesar is right, there’s not much else we can do for him,” He agreed.

Salvador smiled as he watched Ace blow his bangs out of his face

“We could keep him,” He suggested.

Caesar and Argus both gaped at him

“No we can’t!” Caesar snapped “He’ll be in constant danger!”

Salvador scoffed

“At this point in time, he’s in constant danger anyway. Cyclonia aside, if Aaron’s right, and the kid _is_ Eastarian, he’ll be treated like garbage, no matter where we bring him. Unless you _want_ to make the trip to Eastaria on the fluke they’ll even let us near the Terra without shooting us down,” He spat.

Aaron held up a hand; silencing the three men before making his way over to Krysta

“What do you think?” He asked; sitting on the other side of Ace.

She looked up at him

“Him staying isn’t up to us; it’s up to him,” She stated; motioning to the child.

Ace glanced between the two in obvious confusion. Aaron looked down at him

“Well, Ace, what do you want to do? We could let you off on Atmosia, the orphanage won’t have room for you, but it’s you’re best bet,” He started “We could bring you back to where I found you,” He continued “Or, you could stay here, but I’d have to train you, so you could contribute to the team,” He finished.

Ace lowered his gaze and took thoughtful sips of juice. After a few minutes of silent thought he raised his gaze

“Stay.”

**Author's Note:**

> As I've already stated, there will be dark themes in the story (I'm a horrible person who likes to torture my favourite characters :/) so just keep that in mind before reading, and especially before commenting. I just don't want you to read this, find it triggering, and then yell at me in the comments. You have been warned.
> 
> But, please comment, commenting makes me a happy writer, and happy writers write more.


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